2010/06/18

1 - Exposed webservices not WSDL compliant

During exposing of a BPM process as a WebService or of a database (WS-AppServer) i ran into the problem that the generated WSDL was nog conform the
implementation.
So when you run the webservice with a webservice client (for example soapUI) you get a response that is not compliant with the WSDL generated by Cordys BOP4.
This can be very ackward when using tools (for example thta generates JAX-WS) to generate the webservice client. In our case the XML response returned could
not be binded to the generated Java object. To circumvent this problem we adapted the WSDL file conform the implementation generated by BOP4 (CU9).

2 - Be aware when changing process message names

When you change the name of input- and/or output messages of a business process you have to be aware to change the data mapping inside the process and ALSO
the mappings that use this process.

3 - Spaces at the end are trimmed

I generated a webservice on a database table of type string and everything worked fine. Until a string was placed within a column that had spaces at the end.
When a query method was called the spaces were gone. In our case these spaces are very important.
A solution lies in a parameter within the generated implementation of the webservice. This is the preserveSpace="true" setting.

2010/06/09

Introduction

With the setup using Cordys security an exposed BPM process as a webservice needs authentication. However it is possible to grant "anonymous" access to the service.
This blog item shows how this is done.

Authentication

Within the Cordys framework there are several ways to handle authentication:

WebServer - The authentication at the web server (Apache, IIS) (NTLM, Active Directory, or LDAP) and authorisation at the service group.

WS-Security - The authentication/authorisation takes place in the service group.

Anonymous - No authentication is done and authorisation in the service group.

Anonymous user

Identity is usually placed in the SOAP header, but for anonymous access this is not needed. The webserver should be configured to allow anonymous access though.
Cordys uses the system defined user anonymous when anonymous access is used. The soap request will be executed when the anonymous user is granted.
The ACL (Access Control Level) of a service can be set at the service group level or individual service.

2010/06/07

Introduction

This blog shows you how to install a standalone version of the Cordys platform BOP4 (CU9) on Windows.It require a license key, but for others it will give an insight how it is.The installation is divided in two installations. First the so-called Cordys Admin Repository Server (CARS) is installed and then the BOP4.CARS is the repository of Cordys where data is stored about Services, Users, Service containers.

Note: <UNPACKCORDYS> is the directory to which you have unzipped the install pack.

Installation CARS

* Check whether Java 1.6 is on your systems path (I have installed 1.6 update 11)* Check whether msvcm80.dll, msvcp80.dll, msvcr80.dll files are on your system. <Windows installation dir>\ WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_XXX. If they are not you need to download them from Microsoft because they are used.

1 - Run <UNPACKCORDYS>/CARS-2.4.exe

2 - Press Next

3 - Accept License Agreement and press Next

4 - Fill in the repository instance name (leave the default in this case) and press Next

5 - Fill in the directory in which you want to install CARS and press Next

6 - Select the "Standalone installation" and leave the rest of the fields as filled in. Press Next

7 - Fill in the password "admin" for the Directory Manager (the admin for CARS) and press Next

14 - Fill in the MySql database configuration (In my case the password is "admin" and the database name is "cordys". Click Next.NOTE: I had to create the "cordys" schema first, otherwise I got a database exception.

15 - I used as password "admin" and click Next.

16 - Review and click Install.

17 - Wait a while and you should this page. Click Done.

This concludes the base installation of Cordys. Now we install the applications on top of it.

Installing Applications

Note: Be sure Apache is started.

1 - Go to http://<apachehost>/cordys/wcp/configure/install/

I got the following error:

Be sure D:\local\programs\Cordys\defaultInst\components\webgateway\webgateway.jar is in your CLASSPATH.Also be sure the msvcr71.dll is on your PATH.

2 - Enter your credentials (In my case Roger, admin) and press OK.

3 - Check "Use same inputs for an instance" and select the "Cordys System" database configuration. Note that the rest of the fields are filled automatically. Press Next.

4 - A list of applications is shown. Click Install.Note: The "Save the available Applications as template" should be checked in case you want a command line template for the installation.

5 - After a while this screen appears and indicates that you have succesfully installed the Applications. Click Finish.

6 - You have finished the installation and you are now able to create organizations, groups, users etc.